Thurst into action during December's Texas Bowl, young QB Marcel Reed shined in his first outing as an Aggie. In an exclusive interview, Reed spoke about that performance, Texas A&M's spring practices under first-year offensive coordinator Collin Klein and much more.

Key notes from Marcel Reed interview

• I didn’t see the play happen. I was trying to fix my headset. Coach Jim Chaney was talking to us in the box and making sure we were dialed in. I had my head turned. I turned around and saw Jaylen Henderson on the ground, rolling around. Chaney said I had to start warming up. It was very unexpected. I had always been ready to go the entire season if something happened. I was always ready, but my time came then. The coaches and players trusted me, and I tried to instill confidence in them. I just came in and played my game.
   
• It was a three-and-out on my first possession. After that, I was fine. On my first play, I felt a cramp in my thumb. I came to the sideline and needed some pickle juice. After that, I settled down. All the throws came easy. I knew when to stay in the pocket and when to leave the pocket. I was just being me. I settled down and played.
   
• In basketball, the point guard is the center of attention and leads the team. Being a point guard helped me in football. I was a point guard my entire life. I learned to be a leader early. My dad is a coach, and he taught me how to be a leader. In basketball, the point guard is the center of attention and leads the team. It’s the same thing as being a quarterback in football.
   
• My dad was the head coach at Tennessee State since I was about seven or eight. Before that, he was the defensive coordinator for my entire life. I was fielding punts as a kid from his Australian punter.
   
• Mike Elko is a great guy. He came in and instantly made everybody comfortable by the way he was honest. He told us how it was going to be. Nobody was surprised when we came back for workouts. Everybody respected him, and everybody respected the players he brought in. Elko didn’t bring in any primadonnas. We have a bond in the locker room. Elko has been great since he has been here.
   
• Collin Klein is a good coach. I love his offense. He is an awesome dude in the film room and meeting room. Everybody loves him and the way he coaches. He makes it easy for us to talk ball, and that’s what you love. You want to talk to your coach every day. We can chop it up and see where we are. He was a finalist behind Johnny Manziel in the Heisman race. He has brought up beating A&M once in a meeting room. He’s a great dude and a Christian man. He can be soft-spoken, but when you’re doing something wrong, he can get after you. He won’t hold back. He’s going to make me better, and it’s awesome.
   
• The quarterback room is close-knit. We get along with each other. We sit next to each other in the locker room. We crack jokes. They’re like brothers. Henderson and I came in at the same time, and we clicked instantly. With Conner Weigman as well, it’s very close-knit. There is no bad blood at all. We’re all just trying to compete and are having a good time doing it.
   
• Everybody has to be ready when they need to be. That comes back to Elko and Klein and how they structure our practices. They give everybody an opportunity because they’re going to play whoever is going to win the game for us. Whoever is a leader and is going to win the game for us is who will be on the field. Everybody has to be on top of everything.
   
• Nic Scourton has been talked about a lot, but that dude is a dog. Shemar Stewart is another one. He has made some crazy plays in practices and scrimmages. He’s a dog, and it’s crazy that you have both of them on the same line. Daymion Sanford is stepping up. Dalton Brooks is one of my roommates, and he’s going to do a lot for us. That dude runs hard, plays hard and knows what he’s doing. He’s going to have a great season.
   
• The transition was easy but hard. Physically, I had to adjust to college football. This was my first spring. There was some time gap since I had done the offseason workouts. I had to get used to it. My team ended up winning the competitive part. We dominated in the winter.
   
• I think we have one of the top five running back rooms in the country. We have Le’Veon Moss, Rueben Owens, Amari Daniels and EJ Smith. We have Trooper Taylor as a coach, and the way he pushes them, you can see that they want to work. They’ve been working a lot harder. They want to win as bad as anybody. Taylor has done a great job with them.
   
• The biggest difference in me as a quarterback is my knowledge of the game and my ability to operate a college offense vs. a college defense. Building confidence in myself has helped me, and that bowl game helped a lot. That performance put a lot in me and helped me know that I can go farther. I can help everybody else out by helping myself out.
   
• The bowl game took it to another level. You don’t know that you can do stuff like that until it happens. My last full game of snaps was high school, so to play a college game like that puts a lot in you. We didn’t get the result we wanted. It was a loss. There are places I want to improve on. If I want to win, I have to go to work.
   
• It’s exciting to have the season up next. We have new coaches and new faces. The first game with Notre Dame will bring in a packed, sold-out crowd. Everybody on the team will be fired up. We’ll be ready. We’ve been ready since the spring. Everybody wants to get on the field in front of the 12th Man.
   
• Working with Tommy Moffitt has been amazing. We had an instant connection because he’s from Tennessee, too. Since I’ve been in his program, I’ve gotten faster and stronger. They pay close attention to details. He talks about players going into the draft and how long they train. He put it into perspective by asking, “Why not start now?” You’re in a program that allows you to start preparing for the NFL Draft now.
   
• I’m really excited for Edgerrin Cooper. He’s a dog. Being on the scout team, I went against him every day. He’s hard to get around. He’s a true NFL player. I was surprised he wasn’t a first-round pick. I’m happy for him. He’s the only linebacker that I never made it around. He can move laterally. He can come downhill. He has a great contact point. He’s a great player.
   
• My ability to extend a play is probably what stood out during my recruitment. I was a freshman and starting at 150 pounds. Kentucky was my first offer as a freshman, and after that, it blew up. I took my team to a state championship, and that was unexpected, too.
   
• Of the six first-round quarterbacks in the NFL Draft, I want to say that either Drake Maye or Bo Nix will have the best career. I want to see it happen for Nix. J.J. McCarthy could have the biggest impact immediately with the Vikings because of who he has around him with Justin Jefferson and a solid offensive line. I think McCarthy can move around more than Kirk Cousins could. I’m excited to see what he can do. I would have had Michael Penix Jr. last on my list, and I was confused as to where he went and when they picked him. Atlanta had just signed Cousins, and they still have Desmond Ridder. I don’t know what the pick was for. That one surprised me.
   
• If I was drafting at No. 1, I probably would have taken Jayden Daniels. That dude is fast. He can throw the ball. Look at those videos of the Arizona State players throwing stuff out of his locker and stuff like that. That made no sense because he helped them out so much. He had an impact at LSU instantly. He had clearly defined goals, and he stayed for another year for a reason. He didn’t win a Heisman for no reason. If he had a better defense, he could have taken them deeper.
   
• I want to say I mold myself after Daniels or Lamar Jackson. I’ve been compared to Robert Griffin III, and I think it might be because I wear No. 10 and am playing football in Texas. He was one of my favorite quarterbacks back in the day. I watched him a lot when he was at Baylor. I watched a lot of Manziel, too. I tried to get No. 2, but they wouldn’t let me.
   
• Manziel was my introduction to A&M. Dak Prescott was around the same time. I remember watching both of them, as well as AJ McCarron and Blake Sims at Alabama. I watched Nick Marshall at Auburn a lot, too. When Manziel was playing, those were the first A&M games I ever watched.